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11 October, 2010

October, walk in our garden

At the bottom of a long narrow entrance, on the road we have a pair of olive trees. Brick piers. Not Stately Home Lions, cottage lions. We inherited the shocking pink watsonias with their graceful swan necks. But they have never looked this good before. This – is their year. We did plant the golden yellow Arctotis with the trailing silver leaves.

Entrance at the road

We also inherited three Pride of India (from China). A beautiful arch is there, with a crappy view of our neighbour’s aviary. We have planted a Plumbago, which I aim to prune echoing this arch.

Arch and aviary

At the corner of the house and the garage, the garden proper starts. Blooming and lush and green, but the summer heat is waiting in the wings.

to the garden

from the front door

On our figs, which I forgot to prune in time, the first fruits are swelling steadily but still rock hard.

Basil and fig trees

Elephant’s Eye Light Railway we planted with hundreds of pennyroyal plugs. Hmm. Too much work to try desperately to keep watered. So it has been interesting to see what nature does here. That fine grey bush has seeded itself, and there is another tiny one coming.

Elephant's Eye Light Railway. No trains for a while ....

On the Karoo Koppie there are still vygies in mauve and yellows. The Euphorbia has swung from luminous lime green to an unappetising burnt butter colour. But the brick red Kalanchoe is dancing into the limelight.

Karoo koppie

Our Mediterranean Sun Circle gave us One Orange. There are lots of lemons coming and TINY oranges for the next season’s crop. Most of the cuttings cooked, but the Salvia greggei has grown as tall as the citrus trees.

Lemon at Mediterranean Sun Circle

The pond. Is still losing water briskly. So he is draining it again. Completely. Will be resealed. Properly this time. And in ?? months we will have a pond again. With WATER! In the meantime we are going to get a birdbath next week. The birds need it, now.

Waterlilies in waiting, again

In the ash planters the Veltheimia has lots of flowers. One solitary orange Clivia but we hope they are now out of their sulk. Flowers on the winter bulbs are shrivelling, and the leaves are slowly following.

Ash planters with Veltheimia

The garden is flourishing despite me. Well, what is missing, is cutting the paths clear.

overgrown path

more of overgrown path

This is a good image of our garden. In the foreground trees and a green understory from Mother Nature. Beyond the Dusty Miller hedge, a glimpse of Paradise.

from Plum Creek

Paradise. The rose garden. Today it is overcast, so I try the trick of taking pictures in low light.

14 comments:

Dear Diana of EE, How wonderful your garden looks. The paths look beautifully 'overgrown' to me - just the right amount of blowsiness but still with an element of restraint. Your Rose Garden is indeed a triumph and your photograph shows it to be a very romantic area with such pretty colour combinations. I have so much enjoyed walking with you today!

Thank you for the tour of your wonderful garden. Your rose garden really is a glimpse of paradise, and I so admire the railway. This is something I dreamed of doing when my boys were young, though I think I would have enjoyed it as much as they.

We have two birdbaths, and today many birds have been splashing in them. We had several bluebirds and a pair of carinal sharing the bath at the same time. I am sure birds will enjoy your birdbath too!

Thank you for the walk around your garden. I like overgrown paths (unless it is raining) and yours look "laid-back" rather than overgrown :-).It would have been exciting to see a train wizzing around the track!

Diana, I'm finally getting caught up with more than a week's worth of your blog posts. I love all the pinks in your garden at this time of year. I suppose there must be a story about why a plant from China is called "Pride of India;" do you know what the story is? -Jean

Jean - 'Pride of India, actually comes from China'. No I don't know the story, but I have Kristo Pienaar's book the South African what flower is that? to thank. Lagerstroemia indica, is from China. And L. speciosa says India and China. Don't know which we have.